Beautiful - Nate Archibald

𝓣𝓱𝓮 𝓢𝓮𝓻𝓮𝓷𝓪 𝓐𝓵𝓼𝓸 𝓡𝓲𝓼𝓮𝓼

𝓦𝓱𝓮𝓷 𝓽𝓱𝓮 𝔀𝓱𝓲𝓽𝓮 𝓽𝓮𝓷𝓽𝓼 𝓫𝓵𝓸𝓼𝓼𝓸𝓶 𝓲𝓷 𝓑𝓻𝔂𝓪𝓷𝓽 𝓟𝓪𝓻𝓴 𝓲𝓽 𝓬𝓪𝓷 𝓸𝓷𝓵𝔂 𝓶𝓮𝓪𝓷 𝓸𝓷𝓮 𝓽𝓱𝓲𝓷𝓰, 𝓕𝓪𝓼𝓱𝓲𝓸𝓷 𝓦𝓮𝓮𝓴. 𝓣𝓱𝓮 𝓽𝓲𝓶𝓮 𝓸𝓯 𝔂𝓮𝓪𝓻 𝔀𝓱𝓮𝓷 𝓪𝓷𝔂 𝓟𝓪𝓻𝓴 𝓐𝓿𝓮 𝓹𝓻𝓲𝓷𝓬𝓮𝓼𝓼 𝔀𝓸𝓾𝓵𝓭 𝓽𝓻𝓪𝓭𝓮 𝓱𝓮𝓻 𝓵𝓪𝓼𝓽 𝓟𝓻𝓪𝓭𝓪 𝓹𝓸𝓬𝓱𝓮𝓽𝓽𝓮 𝓯𝓸𝓻 𝓯𝓻𝓸𝓷𝓽 𝓻𝓸𝔀 𝓼𝓮𝓪𝓽𝓼 𝓽𝓸 𝓽𝓱𝓮 𝓫𝓮𝓼𝓽 𝓼𝓱𝓸𝔀𝓼. 𝓐𝓷𝓭 𝔀𝓮 𝓱𝓮𝓪𝓻 𝓽𝓱𝓮 𝓼𝓮𝓪𝓽𝓲𝓷𝓰 𝓬𝓱𝓪𝓻𝓽 𝓽𝓸 𝓔𝓵𝓮𝓪𝓷𝓸𝓻 𝓦𝓪𝓵𝓭𝓸𝓻𝓯'𝓼 𝓼𝓱𝓸𝔀 𝓲𝓼 𝓫𝓮𝓲𝓷𝓰 𝓶𝓪𝓭𝓮 𝓫𝔂 𝓸𝓾𝓻 𝓿𝓮𝓻𝔂 𝓸𝔀𝓷 𝓑.

𝓒𝓱𝓻𝓲𝓼𝓽𝓲𝓷𝓪'𝓼 𝓟𝓸𝓿

"Ya'll have got to be the slowest runners I've ever seen!" I yelled through my megaphone "My eighty year old grandma with dementia can run faster than you, and she thinks dust mice are chasing her!"

We share a coach with the Saint Jude's team, and it's become a new thing where the captain's of each team lead their individual practice that way everyone gets their one on one time, or that's at least what they tell our parents. Last year we used to have co-ed practice but when two of the members decided to sneak away for a quickie and got pregnant, they had to change it.

"Isn't your grandma dead?" One of the girls asked, I slowly turned my head towards her.

"Yes," I replied bluntly "And since you reminded me of such a heartbreaking and devastating time, everyone has to run another lap."

All the girls groaned because of the ill timed reminder, "Yeah, don't blame me!" I really didn't care that she reminded me my grandma was dead, I didn't too much care for her since she only remembered the times before segregation and would yell at me for being in the house.

"Are yall waiting for an invitation? Start running!" They groaned again and began running around the track "Don't stop until I say!"

"Christina, help." Blair said, as she walked up the bleachers towards me.

I tapped the open seat beside me "What's wrong now?"

"I'm losing all my clout." She said sitting down in a huff, I raised my eyebrows so she could elaborate. Blair has the most clout out of everyone in our school, except Serena and I . "Serena is stealing all my clout."

"Oh boy."

"No, I'm being serious. I offered the girls second row tickets to my mother's fashion show and all they could focus on was Serena and the new girls she's hanging out with."

"Well you know, they've always been flipfloppy." Anyone who has the most attention on them, is who they flock to. A dinosaur could appear out of thin air and they would trample over each other to befriend it.

"I'm out of commission for one week, and all of a sudden Serena is their new god." Blair said, "I should be worshiped, not her."

I spread my lips into a full line "Too much?" she asked, I nodded my head. "Okay, then what do I do?"

"Nothing," I said "They'll soon realize that Serena being on the front page isn't going to get them any attention, and they'll come flocking to you."

"You're right." She acknowledged, I'm literally always right.

We watched the girls run in silence for a moment, I noticed out of the corner of my eye Blair looking at my attire "I saw the article they wrote about you." Blair said, speaking up. "You do look amazing in gym attire."